PBS starts blog about social entrepreneurs

PBS, the network of Public TV channels in the US, has started its own blog about social entrepreneurs called US NOW Enterprising Ideas:

"Maybe the 'breaking news' teams at CNN or ABC don't pay much attention to people using innovative ideas for public benefit, but we do. And here is where you'll find the latest news about these 'social entrepreneurs'—people who think outside-of-the-box and devise solutions to daunting social problems. Notices of major grants awarded, competitions won, projects launched, debates fueled. And we want to hear from you, too. We'll read your comments and consider whatever tidbits you send our way. Thanks for reading—and for participating!"

Sounds like a great initiative, and it has already earned a spot in my RSS feeds.

The world's most popular blog reports about social entrepreneurship

Boing Boing, the world's most popular blog, has published a story about social entrepreneurship. That means that a lot of people will read about social entrepreneurship instead of being productive in their day jobs (because that is what Boing Boing readers do, ahem, at least what I do. Luckily, in this special case, reading Boing Boing equals being productive in my day job. Great.)

Global Social Venture Competition: 2007 Winners from Berkeley and Thammasat

The Global Social Venture Competition is a business plan competition aimed at MBA students who have the ultimate social enterprise idea. And now the winners for 2007 are in:

Haas Business school of the UC Berkeley - good to see you there, guys - won with "Revolution Foods", a company providing healthy school food in California. But I am also happy to see the Bangkokian Thammasat students finishing second with "Verdacure" - they have worked out a cross-subsidised business that provides dental care to rural villagers and rather affluent city dwellers. Congratulations!

(Disclaimer: There have been three 2nd places, apart from Thammasat also teams from Stanford and Babson College came in second. And their ideas are good. I am just a little bit biased towards teams from a university I attended and the city I currently live in. Hip-hip-hooray. Sorry.)